Ferris Wheel Patents

Listed below are links to observation wheel and Ferris wheel patents. Playground scale or occupant propelled rides are excluded. The links provide access to Google patents and the content is provided by USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office).

 

Patent Number Date Issued Patent Description Inventor
169797 11/1875 Rotary swing/Improvement in rotary swings Forrester
336696 3/1886 Vertical rotary swing Campi
489238 1/1893 Ferris wheel amusement ride Somers
506828 10/1893 Observation wheel Murrey
512429 1/1894 Observation roundabout Wyand
535362 3/1895 Vertical rotary swing DeVore
544866 8/1895 Ferris wheel with observation tower Schnitzler
583121 5/1897 Amusement wheel Pattee
669621 3/1905 Portable Ferris wheel patent Conderman
678670 7/1901 Multiple Ferris wheel ride Kling
741964 10/1903 Ferris wheel variation Harlan
774209 11/1904 Pleasure wheel Stubbs
793183 6/1905 Ferris wheel based thrill ride De Vore
796772 8/1905 Ferris wheel carriage Sullivan
816435 3/1906 Ferris wheel variation Connelly
809937 1/1906 Ferris wheel variation Friede/Carter
832965 10/1906 Portable Ferris wheel for children Gottlieb
841783 1/1907 Ferris wheel based thrill ride Jones (American Novel Machine)
852248 4/1907 Ferris wheel based thrill ride Watson
853155 5/1907 Ferris wheel based thrill ride Boardman
855132 5/1907 Ferris wheel device Pulman/Leatherland
858768 7/1907 Ferris wheel concept Thomas (National Concessions)
867187 9/1907 Elongated Ferris wheel concept Chubbuck
871722 11/1907 Ferris wheel device Millican
881095 3/1908 Non-circular Ferris wheel Chubbock
899286 9/1908 Car for observation wheels Biavati
900820 10/1908 Multiple Ferris wheel ride Becker
928716 7/1909 Ferris wheel coaster (eccentric) Valentine
1050567 1/1913 Ferris wheel passenger carrier Saunders
1057919 4/1913 Observation wheel car Biavati
1149513 8/1915 Ferris wheel thrill ride Hermann
1262687 4/1918 Ferris wheel on wheels H. L. Miller/Parker
1354436 9/1920 Eccentric Ferris wheel (Wonder Wheel) Hermann
1379454 5/1921 Amusement ride device Lindamood
1418999 6/1922 Amusement ride device Wilson
1510355 9/1924 Mechanical Ferris wheel Tymkow
1539094 5/1925 Ferris wheel structure Miller
1555488 9/1925 Ferris wheel concept Siebert
1568424 1/1926 Tobboggan Slide Ferris Wheel Smith
1599014 9/1926 Passenger-powered ferris wheel Hunter
1599075 9/1926 Ferris wheel thrill ride Burris
1605198 11/1926 Amusement apparatus Ashcroft
1718167 7/1929 Multiple ferris wheels on one axle McLaughlin
1867996 7/1932 Portable ferris wheel Baer
1911915 5/1/1933 Amusement apparatus McLaughlin
2082287 6/1/1937 Amusement apparatus Hermann
2109539 3/1/1938 Amusement device Kornsweet
2201993 5/1/1940 Amusement ride (ferris wheel with illusion),Dyke
2203971 6/1/1940 Amusement device Shepherd
2229966 1/1/1941 Amusement machine Eyerly
2249076 7/1/1941 Amusement apparatus [Sky Wheel] Courtney/ Velare & Courtney
2384237 9/1/1945 Amusement machine Clark
2397857 4/1/1946 Amusement device Hall
2403593 7/1/1946 Amusement device [passenger powered] Franklin
2423283 7/1/1947 Amusement device Austin
2576477 11/1/1951 Ferris wheel Powell
2590934 4/1/1952 Portable ferris wheel Catlett
2689126 9/1/1954 Gear-driven control for ferris wheel cars [Rock-O-Plane] Eyerly
2800328 7/1/1957 Plural horizontal axes roundabout [Sky Wheel improvement] Courtney
2828128 3/1/1958 Amusement ride device Castille
2847216 8/1/1958 Amusement ride apparatus Courtney
2864614 12/1/1958 Ferris wheel type amusement ride Castille
2907568 10/1/1959 Portable ferris wheels [Double Sky Wheel or Space Wheel] Velare & Velare
2934341 4/1/1960 Passenger amusement ride Shepherd
3002753 10/1/1961 Foldable and portable ferris wheel Garbrick
3176983 4/1/1965 Amusement ride [Raven or Radar] Barber
3222061 12/1/1965 Portable Amusement ride Eyerly & Johnson/ Eyerly
3226113 12/1/1965 Collapsible wheel structure for rotary amusement devices Mercer et al
3243184 3/1/1966 Planetary amusement ride Robinson et al
3321203 5/1/1967 Automatically controlled amusement ride [requiring no attendant] Hansen
3456943 7/1/1969 Amusement ride apparatus and method [Skydiver] Brown/ Chance
3495823 2/1/1970 Amusement ride [Turbo] Barber
3529816 9/1/1970 Vehicle especially for an amusement ride or the like [Turbo] Barber
3552747 1/1/1971 Portable folding ferris wheel Deem/ Eli Bridge
3612517 10/1/1971 Ferris wheel Schwarzkopf
3707282 12/1/1972 Planetary amusement ride Robinson
3837706 9/1/1974 Amusement ride seat and safety guard [hair guard for ferris wheel] Suttles/ Eli Bridge
4815728 3/1/1989 Amusement ride O'Keefe
4960275 10/1/1990 Water immersion amusement apparatus [ferris wheel] Magon
4988089 1/1/1991 Fairground attraction Knijpstra
5319897 6/1/1994 Amusement park ride Royer
D400616 11/1/1998 Panoramic wheel Gnezdilov
6328658 12/1/2001 Amusement ride [Sky Restaurant] Gnezdilov
6402624 6/1/2002 Amusement ride without hubs and spokes [Cyclotron or floorless Super Loops; also floorless coaster and hubless ferris wheel] Larson & Novatny/ Versa
6634952 10/1/2003 Ferris wheel (construction for large portable wheel) Kroon & Kroon/ Cobra Beheer
6994629 2/1/2006 Attraction [Giant Motion Track (hubless ferris wheel)] Bussink
7854661 12/1/2010 Giant wheel Chu
7931539 4/1/2011 Elevating mechanism and Ferris wheel using the same Chen
7988562 8/1/2011 Midair and pseudo-underwater observation apparatus Kojiro
8216077 7/1/2012 Observation wheel type ride Bussink et al
8337317 12/1/2012 Free swing Ferris wheel Crawford & Nemeth/ Disney

Last revised: 5/21/2013